I think Richard Evans is showing his age as far as cultural disconnect from the youth is concerned (which has extreme importance in his analysis, as the Nazi Party was comprised of mostly of disaffected young adults).
"The level of political violence in the last years of the Weimar Republic was astonishing: in the first half of 1932, 84 Nazis were killed in street clashes with other armed groups, as were 75 communists. In the Prussian election campaign that summer, there were 105 violent deaths, and police counted 461 political riots with 82 deaths. This has no parallel in today’s democracies, for which we should be thankful."
The Internet is the new beer hall. We're only seeing the tip of the iceberg of the transition from digital spaces flame wars to meatspace brawls.
In short, Trump isn't Hitler and Bojo isn't Mosley. But they are certainly canaries in the coal mine for what these societies are trending towards. Or to put it another way, it took the Nazi Party six years to grow the war machine that took over Europe. But before it took power, earnest adherents of the Weimar Republic spent 13 years inadvertently sabotaging their own systemic predicates to try and stop Hitler and/or the KPD from spreading and seizing power.
I read your response. I'm curious, would you consider yourself to be a member of the class of young people that you mention? Because a lot of your insights presuppose a relatively close understanding of what it means to be a 'young person' and yet are written in a manner seemingly incompatible with being a 'young person'. Of course, this depends on what age range one would classify as young; personally, when I refer to young people without literally meaning children it is usually in reference to people younger than 30.
But if Hitler’s rise teaches us anything, it’s that the establishment trivialises demagogues at its peril. One disturbing aspect of the present crisis is the extent to which mainstream parties, including US Republicans and British Conservatives, tolerate leaders with tawdry rhetoric and simplistic ideas, just as Papen, Hindenburg, Schleicher and the rest of the later Weimar establishment tolerated first Hitler and then his dismantling of the German constitution. He could not have done it in the way he did without their acquiescence. Republicans know Trump is a charlatan, just as Conservatives know Johnson is lazy, chaotic and superficial, but if these men can get them votes, they’ll lend them support.
http://txti.es/weimar-america
I think Richard Evans is showing his age as far as cultural disconnect from the youth is concerned (which has extreme importance in his analysis, as the Nazi Party was comprised of mostly of disaffected young adults).
"The level of political violence in the last years of the Weimar Republic was astonishing: in the first half of 1932, 84 Nazis were killed in street clashes with other armed groups, as were 75 communists. In the Prussian election campaign that summer, there were 105 violent deaths, and police counted 461 political riots with 82 deaths. This has no parallel in today’s democracies, for which we should be thankful."
The Internet is the new beer hall. We're only seeing the tip of the iceberg of the transition from digital spaces flame wars to meatspace brawls.
In short, Trump isn't Hitler and Bojo isn't Mosley. But they are certainly canaries in the coal mine for what these societies are trending towards. Or to put it another way, it took the Nazi Party six years to grow the war machine that took over Europe. But before it took power, earnest adherents of the Weimar Republic spent 13 years inadvertently sabotaging their own systemic predicates to try and stop Hitler and/or the KPD from spreading and seizing power.